Krees goes Dutch Kiwi!

More on naming

We were saddened when the Texaco down the street stopped carrying LPG. Now we've learned that the Texaco is no longer a Texaco. It's a "Firezone." That's right -- there's a gas station company called Firezone. Why did someone think this was a good idea?

See for yourself. This one is in Groningen.

Arrival of the kraampakket

Many women in the Netherlands still give birth at home. I think the lowest percentage I saw was 30%. Women in our town, Diever, are now required to go to one of the nearby hospitals to give birth, but our insurance company still sent a large kraampakket (birth package) full of things we would need if I was birthing at home. Many of the things will also be useful leading up to the birth and afterward, especially since (if all goes well, knock on wood), they'll send me home from the hospital in a matter of hours after giving birth.

Included in the package is a diaper bag, plastic sheeting for the bed in case my water breaks at night, mattress pads for use during birth, lots of sterile bandages and dressings, a navel clamp for the baby, sterile cotton, antibacterial hand gel, etc.

Oh yeah -- and a racist cartoon character on the box. BONUS! Dutch racism: it's not just for Zwarte Piet anymore!

Happy New Year!

Yesterday was the first day of the lunar new year, The Year of the Pig. Happy New Year!

Some believe this is a "Golden Pig" year, which may only come around every 600 years and is an especially good year in which to have a baby and the prospect of wealth. To be fair, there's some debate as to whether or not it's really a "Golden Pig" year. Some believe that's just being said for commercialization purposes. But in general, any Year of the Pig is supposed to be a good year to have a baby.

We celebrated the new year with tuek guk, a traditional Korean new year's soup. If we were with Charles' family, we would bow to them and pay our respects.

Charles was also born in a Year of the Pig, so he and the baby will be the same sign which is supposed to be really good. He and I are almost exactly 4 years apart, which means we're also supposed to be an excellent match for each other. When we started dating and I first met his halmoni (grandmother), who was very conservative, everyone thought that she would really dislike me because I wasn't Korean. But when she learned that we were such a great match in terms of the horoscope (and probably also when I demonstrated that I was learning some Korean, I could write Korean and that I was learning Korean traditions), she was thrilled and wanted us to get engaged right away.

Anyway, of course we're over the moon to be having a baby at all. Knowing that halmoni, who died just a few months after I met her, would also be thrilled and smiling down on us makes it extra special. Instead of allowing myself to be bitter about the three years we spent unsuccessfully trying to conceive, and the money, energy and tears wasted on tests, medication, doctor's appointments and especially IVF, I'll think about her and about how fortunate we are to be having a baby in 2007.

Köln review

We had a nice trip to Cologne last week (German Köln, Dutch Keulen). We dropped Maui off at De Roedelstee for a couple days of exuberant fun with Gerdien and the border collies, caught an 11:30 train (where we met up with our coworker) and we arrived in Cologne mid-afternoon.

Our hotel, the Domspatz, was practically across the street from the train station and Cathedral. Not the fanciest or quietest place, but good enough to suit our needs and a perfect location for us. We had a few minutes before Charles had to meet a colleague, so we swung by the Starbucks at the train station (shameful, I know, but you have no idea how much I miss chai!!!) and wandered over to the Cathedral.

The Cologne Cathedral, or Dom, is AMAZING. And not a Katie Holmes describing how amazing Tom Cruise is kind of amazing. I mean awesome in the truest sense of the word. It's gigantic. And magnificent. And -- why bother trying to describe it? I'll just let the photos speak for themselves (to be posted soon). And the truly impressive thing is that it was started in 1248. It's twice as old as the United States!

We were only able to peek at the outside of it and take a few photos before returning to the hotel. Charles met with his colleague for an hour and I just rested in the room, watching TV and reading my Bradley book.

We wanted something fairly typically German for dinner, so we went to a place called Früh. Charles and I had the bratwurst plate (yum!), and he and Mark also had Kölsch, the local beer.  Kölsch is typically served in tall, skinny glasses of only 200ml. I'm told empties are quickly replaced so that you always have a nice, fresh beer. Mark and I each indulged our sweet tooths after dinner with the homemade apple strudel (extra yum!).

Thursday morning I decided to walk with Charles and Mark to the conference center. We could take the sidewalk on the train bridge  over the Rhine, so I thought I would check out the view and take some photos. I should have turned back at the end of the bridge because it took us an additional 45 minutes of walking back and forth trying to figure out how to get in before we just hailed a taxi to take us there. The place is HUGE.

I walked back across the river and got more photos outside the Dom, including some outside the basement workshop where it appears they restore and clean or create new statues and architectural details for the cathedral. I went inside, took a tour brochure for a euro and spent some time looking over the stained glass windows, chapels, mosaics and other features. I'd been there maybe an hour before everyone was kicked out for noon mass. (To be fair, they invited visitors to stay, but I was hungry and my hips and feet had already started to hurt.)

I headed to the nearby Ludwig Museum and spent a bit more time than expected looking through the collection. (I'm not usually too keen on modern art.) I also got lunch at the museum (mmmm bagel sandwich and cappuccino) before going back to the cathedral for a final look.

After the cathedral I popped over to the Köln tourism office and got a book for my niece's birthday. (Happy 4th, Libby!) Then I decided to try and see some of the city and started walking west through a shopping area. I hit another Starbucks (shame on me, but chai! HOT CHAI!) and walked maybe 20-30 minutes west. Shops, shops and more shops. I think I should have done a little more research to figure out where the more interesting old part of the city was instead of just walking through the shopping district. I hit the ring road on the west end of the city, went a couple blocks north and walked back through more of a residential area. I think I passed the Stadtmuseum, but I was right on time to meet up with Charles and couldn't stop for a tour.

I got back near the hotel, picked up a bottle of German dessert wine for neighbors Rudy & Agaath who were watching the chickens while we were gone and have helped us around the house in little ways, and picked up my bag from the hotel. Charles, Mark and I set off to try and find another vegetarian-friendly restaurant. We mostly struck out but settled on a quiet Italian place for some pasta and pizza. Then we caught our 7:15 train and didn't get back home until almost midnight.

It normally takes two or three days of sightseeing like this for me to feel the effects, but pregnancy sure must be changing things. By the end of the day Thursday my hips and feet were killing me! It's a good thing I didn't have to go to work Friday because it really hurt to walk. Saturday wasn't as bad, but it took until the end of the afternoon walking around Amsterdam for my hips to loosen up and feel normal.